After returning and telling Old Madam Zhou and the others everything, the Zhou family members hardly hesitated at all; they were all much more willing to go and reclaim the wasteland.
“Our family cannot be separated. Going into forced labor is absolutely out of the question.”
Old Madam Zhou clutched her chest, unable to bear the thought of seeing her sons separated from their own flesh and blood.
“Exactly! What’s wrong with wasteland? We have hands and feet. We certainly won’t starve to death once we get there.” Fourth Zhou looked at his third brother, his spirit exceptionally high.
Third Zhou nodded with a serious expression.
He had just inquired about the area earlier and heard that there were many mountain forests in the northern valley.
He figured that even if the farming didn’t go smoothly for a while, they could still survive by going into the mountains to hunt and gather wild game.
At the very least, the drought here was not severe, so there were far more ways to make a living than back in their hometown.
“Let’s head over there first. Right now, the government is intercepting refugees everywhere, so we must settle down first before doing anything else.”
After Third Zhou finished speaking, no one in the Zhou family had any objections, and they were about to set off on their journey.
Only Second Zhou was completely drained of energy. With his hands tucked into his sleeves, he sighed and complained with a face full of grievances.
His feet dragged along slowly as he walked at the very back of the group.
“Second Brother, what is wrong with you?”
Old Madam Zhou couldn’t stand the sound of his sighing. She felt that if he kept sighing like this, he would sigh away all the family’s good fortune.
“Mother, that place is full of wretched land. If we just go over like this, won’t we be exhausted and suffer?”
“Then you tell me where we can go to live a good life, you tell me!” Old Madam Zhou turned around and glared at him.
Second Zhou fell silent.
He lowered his head even further, looking just like a quail, his face written all over with negativity.
Old Madam Zhou rolled her eyes at him with irritation. She held back several times before finally resisting the urge to whip him with the sole of her shoe.
Among her three sons, Third Zhou was steady and responsible, and Fourth Zhou was brave and capable of enduring hardships.
Only this Second Zhou was good for nothing, yet he happened to be gluttonous and lazy.
He would lie around the house all day, wishing that Heaven would just drop food right into his mouth.
Old Madam Zhou’s husband had passed away early, and her eldest son had died prematurely. Among the remaining three sons, Second Zhou should have been the one to run the household.
But this son was useless and completely unreliable. Fortunately, Third Zhou was capable of stepping up, which was the only reason Old Madam Zhou’s life hadn’t been so difficult over the years.
Seeing that her mother-in-law’s face looked displeased, Second Zhou’s wife, Sun Pinghua, cast a reproachful look at Second Zhou and quickly gave him a tug.
“Walk faster, don’t make the family wait just for you.”
Old Madam Zhou closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief.
It was a stroke of luck that they had found a sensible wife for Second Zhou. Though not exceptionally bright, she was honest and well-behaved, which kept things from being completely miserable.
There were quite a few refugees willing to go to the northern part of Lingzhou City to reclaim wasteland.
When Third Zhou took the Zhou family to the government soldiers to collect their official documents, they spotted many of their former fellow villagers.
The government soldiers counted the number of people and then had everyone come over to register.
Finally, they handed a sheet of official documents to Third Zhou for safekeeping.
“What is this?”
Third Zhou was literate, so he looked down and scanned it.
Seeing that it was him, the older government soldier from before walked over.
“You must keep this safe. When you get close to the wasteland, your group should find the nearest town and hand this document over to the town clerk. With this, you can register your household residency.”
Learning that this item was so important, Third Zhou hastily and carefully tucked it away.
The government soldier rattled on with a few more words.
“As you walk along the way, you might encounter other government soldiers catching refugees. When that happens, you only need to show them this document, and they will no longer make things difficult for you.”
Third Zhou nodded and thanked him, “Thank you for informing us, Officer. Thank you very much.”
It seemed that choosing this path of reclaiming wasteland was the right move for now.
Otherwise, without the document, they would likely be harassed by government soldiers if they went elsewhere. If they ended up separated from their wives and children in the end, that would truly be a fate worse than death.
Among the fellow villagers registered on the same document as the Zhou family, nearly half were originally from the same village.
There were also some from the neighboring village.
Everyone chose to stick together with people they knew, so the road ahead would be easier to travel, and they would have some degree of mutual support.
Before setting off, Third Zhou asked Old Madam Zhou for some copper coins and went to buy some baked flatbreads as traveling rations.
It was already considered quite good for the adults to eat less than half a piece of flatbread per meal and fill their bellies with cold water; at least they could feel half-full.
However, Mianmian could not be forced to make do like this.
Third Zhou’s heart ached for his daughter.
Gritting his teeth, he went to the butcher shop and bought eight liang of pork for Mianmian, wrapping it tightly in oil paper and holding it close against his chest.
Old Madam Zhou was just worrying earlier about why she hadn’t reminded Third Zhou to buy some food specifically for Mianmian.
Just then, she saw that Third Zhou had already returned, the front of his clothes rubbed shiny from the lard.
“Mother, look.” Third Zhou pulled out the pork and handed it to his old mother for safekeeping.
Old Madam Zhou was delighted the moment she saw it. Slapping her thigh, she hurriedly hid the meat away.
“The flatbreads are so dry, I wouldn’t want my sweet granddaughter to choke on them. It’s a good thing you brought pork, otherwise my precious darling would have to suffer.”
Third Zhou smiled and patted Mianmian’s fluffy little head.
“How could I bear to let Mianmian suffer? Don’t worry, Mother. Even if I have to go without a bite of food myself, I won’t let this little one be wronged.”
Zhou Mianmian twisted her little fingers, looking up at Third Zhou, and then at Old Madam Zhou.
She co-operated by flashing a wide, joyful grin.
Yay, there’s meat to eat!
A pair of big eyes like black pearls blinked and blinked, melting straight into Old Madam Zhou’s heart.
Old Madam Zhou clutched her chest, calling her “sweetheart” and “darling” over and over, picking up her granddaughter to give her two big kisses.
She wished that once their lives got a bit better in the future, she could let her sweet granddaughter eat meat every single day.
Standing to the side, Li Chunzhu’s eyes turned completely straight upon seeing the meat. She was terrified that Old Madam Zhou would secretly cook a separate meal for that little girl on the road.
Li Chunzhu pondered for a moment, and then slyly pushed Meifu toward Zhou Mianmian.
She wanted Meifu to follow Zhou Mianmian constantly.
She refused to believe that if Meifu kept spinning around Zhou Mianmian without leaving, Old Madam Zhou would have the nerve to only give meat to Zhou Mianmian and not to her Meifu when she boiled it!
Meifu was also very quick on the uptake, staring sneakily at the back of Zhou Mianmian’s head.
She refused to loosen her gaze for even a single moment.
Once all the people heading to the wasteland had gathered, the group finally set off on their journey.
The ones traveling along were not just Third Zhou’s group, but several others as well.
All of them carried official documents, heading together to reclaim the wasteland.
The crowd walked all the way north, making for a grand and imposing sight.
The territory of Lingzhou City was vast, and the place the Zhou family needed to rush to was very far from this current small town; it would take at least a four to five days’ walk.
They walked for more than half the day, and seeing that it was getting late and they were truly too exhausted to walk any further, they discussed and decided to rest on the spot.
Third Zhou also stopped his pace along with his family.
Looking around, they had currently walked into a stretch of woods, which offered some shelter and cover. Spending the night here was considered quite decent.
Blacksmith Li from the same village spotted Third Zhou and his family.
So, he also led his wife and children over to this area.
They stayed close to the Zhou family so that they could look out for one another.
After walking for so long, Old Madam Zhou was afraid that Mianmian might be holding her urine, so she carried her granddaughter to a farther patch of grass, away from the crowd, to let her relieve herself.
Who would have thought that Li Chunzhu would catch sight of this and assume Old Madam Zhou was sneaking off to boil the meat.
Hurriedly grabbing Meifu’s hand, she rushed over with quick steps.
“Mother, don’t just care about Mianmian, our Meifu is still small too. It doesn’t matter if I don’t eat, but you must leave a bite for Meifu!” Li Chunzhu’s face was full of greed as she hastily pressed closer.
Old Madam Zhou turned around in bewilderment, revealing a puddle of murky liquid on the ground.
“Fourth’s wife, are you saying that when Mianmian takes a pee, she has to leave a bite for Meifu? What, does Meifu actually have a taste for this?”